VACUUM/BLOW FORMING CLEAR POLYCARBONATE PART 1 

hahaha you should check out love and saucers, a documentary about a kindred spirit of this video's protagonist.

He went to town on that project and determined to achieve desired results, and that apparently cost him some serious coin. You can learn from the process shared as it achieved his goals, and you can replicate such goals on a smidgen of the cost, that is my goal anyhow lol. Keep on rocking as you roll in the creative dept.

Hey. Randomly read your post. I can try to make polycarbonate covers for you if you have samples.

I bought four brand new ovens... giggle

Or easily produced aerogel can be used, it's the stuff that allowed the space shuttle to survive landing back on the planet without even so much as a singed hair even. Rock on. #TheDigitalLifeguardProject-_-

Gravity doesn't suck...👍

Moisture inside the plastic..You have to pre-heat the polycarb for 24 hours at 100 deg C before attempting to form it.

you should pre heat the PC Sheet

Seek out a UV-stabilized PC, the cheaper ones are not.

+Kevin Ford it shouldn't matter at all, unless maybe the air flow into the box is such that it blows onto the hot plastic, causing deformation and local temp changes. Some sort of baffle / diffuser setup should prevent that.

lower box would be susceptible to warping as rigidity is reduced. If only 3lbs is applied it could be made from thinner steel instead of the heavy gauge beams shown here.

+Migueldeservantes You have to dry polycarbonate before putting high heat to it. We usually dry at 140 deg for 4-5 hours. After that you can heat it until it sags to the floor and it won't bubble.

+Joe Fox WOW !!! Your answer mean the world to me thank your so very much for answering, every one in the sign industry was telling me that it have to be done under a high pressure to avoid the bubbles. It is there any tell tell sign that it is ready for high heat??

+Migueldeservantes People in the sign industry want to do the work themselves. What causes the bubbles is moisture in the plastic. Most plastics are hydroscopic. When you heat the plastic without drying it the moisture expands and turns to steam making bubbles. Slowly heating it at a low temp for several hours cooks the moisture out without bubbling. We use quartz heating tubes on our thermoformers and if were running sheets that haven't been dried we will heat the sheet very slowly for about 45 minutes then put medium heat to it for 20 minutes then finally bring it up to forming temp in the last 5 minutes for about a 1 hour cycle. If the sheets have been dried we can heat a 1/4" sheet in about 6 minutes under high heat.

You know that one think about most polymers as as very solid material that can eve use as a moisture barrier!! but I guess that once "One have been working for long enough with this type of plastics.. one start to learn about it. Thank you again and again!

Polyurethane has a max temp rating of 250 f. not safe at temp needed to form poly.

Jerry Roane We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ...

The video you referenced shows acrylic sheet being being molded. It's very likely that it is getting scratched and will need polishing. Polycarbonate can't be polished, so free-form blow molding is the only option if the surface is to remain optically unblemished.